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.TH SP_CONNECT 3 "JULY 1998" SPREAD "User Manuals"
.SH NAME
SP_connect \- Connect an application to a daemon
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B #include <sp.h>
.br
.BI "int SP_connect( const char *" spread_name ", const char *" private_name ", int " priority ", int " group_membership ", mailbox *" mbox ", char *" private_group );
.SH DESCRIPTION
.B SP_connect
is the initial call an application must make to establish a
connection with a Spread daemon.  All other spread calls must
refer to a valid 
.I mbox 
returned by this function.

The 
.I spread_name
is the name of the Spread daemon to connect to.  It should be a
string in one of the following forms:
.RS
.TP
.B "4803" 
This will connect to the Spread daemon on the local 
machine running on port 4803.  This form cannot be
used to connect to a Windows95/NT machine.
.TP
.B "4803@localhost" 
This will also connect to the Spread daemon 
on the local machine running on port 4803.
This form can be used on Windows95/NT machines.
.TP
.BR "4803@host.domain.edu " or " 4803@128.220.221.99"     
This will connect to the machine identified by either 
domain name or IP address at the specified port. 
.RE

The
.I private_name 
is the name this connection would like to be known as.  It
must be unique on the machine running the spread daemon.  The 
name can be of at most MAX_PRIVATE_NAME characters, with the same character
restrictions as a group name (mainly it cannot contain the '#'
character). If the application does not care what name it uses, it
can pass in a NULL pointer into this field and the daemon
will assign the connection a unique, random name.

The
.I priority
is a 0/1 flag for whether this connection will be a "Priority" 
connection or not. Currently this has no effect.

The 
.I group_membership
is a boolean integer.  If 1 then the application will 
receive group membership messages for this connection, 
if 0 then the application will 
.B not
receive 
.B any
membership change messages.

The
.I mbox
should be a pointer to a mailbox variable.  After the 
.B SP_connect
call returns this variable will hold the mbox for
the connection.

The
.I private_group
should be a pointer to a string big 
enough to hold at least MAX_GROUP_NAME characters.  
After the Connect call returns it will contain the private 
group name of this connection.  This group name can be used to
send unicast messages to this connection and no one can join 
this special group.

.SH "RETURN VALUES"
Returns 
.B ACCEPT_SESSION 
on success or one of the following errors ( < 0 ):
.TP 0.8i
.B ILLEGAL_SPREAD
The 
.I spread_name
given to connect to was illegal for some reason. Usually because
it was a unix socket on Windows95/NT, an improper format for a host
or an illegal port number
.TP
.B COULD_NOT_CONNECT
Lower level socket calls failed to allow a connection to the 
specified spread daemon right now.
.TP
.B CONNECTION_CLOSED
During communication to establish the connection errors occured
and the setup could not be completed.
.TP
.B REJECT_VERSION
The daemon or library has a version mismatch.
.TP
.B REJECT_NO_NAME
This is a protocol error which should not occur if the connection
request is sent correctly to the daemon. It means that the length
of the user name was not sent (if no user name is provided a length
of 0 must be sent).
.TP
.B REJECT_ILLEGAL_NAME
Name provided violated some requirement (length or used an illegal character)
.TP
.B REJECT_NOT_UNIQUE
Name provided is not unique on this daemon. Recommended response is to try
again with a different name.
.SH BUGS
None.
.SH AUTHOR
Yair Amir <yairamir@cnds.jhu.edu>
.br
Jonathan Stanton <jonathan@cnds.jhu.edu>
.br

.SH "SEE ALSO"
.BR libspread (3)

